Hope
|cause of death = 1Fell into lava pit 2Stabbed by The destroyer |Killer = The Destroyer |Mother = Gabrielle |Father = Dahak |Son(s) = The Destroyer |Other family = Ares ("husband"/mate) Hera ("mother-in-law") Zeus ("father-in-law") Rhea ("grandmother-in-law") Kronos ("grandfather-in-law") Uranus ("great-grandfather-in-law") Gaea ("great-grandmother-in-law") Lila (aunt) Herodatus (grandfather) Hecuba (grandmother) Sarah (cousin) Harry Covington (distant relation) Janice Covington (distant relation) }} Hope, The Demi-Goddess of Dahak is a recurring character on Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Hope is the daughter of Gabrielle and Dahak, the One God of Evil. When Gabrielle was forced to kill, while in a temple in Britannia, she loses her blood innocence. She is then raped by Dahak and impregnated with the child that would become Hope. Within a few hours after being born, Hope makes her first kill. She develops rapidly, resembling a 10-year old girl at only 3-4 months old. When she releases Callisto from the lava river, she takes the alias of "Fayla" and is told to kill Solan, Xena's son. This causes a Rift in Xena's and Gabrielle's relationship. She and Ares then get together and create their own children - The Destroyers. When Hope gives birth to what should have been the Destroyers, only one survives. It rampages across Potidaea, killing everything in its sight. When Xena kills the Destroyer, in its pain, it swipes and stabs Hope, killing her. Story Conception While being left in Britannia, Gabrielle was captured by the servants of the One Evil God, Dahak, at his temple, as well as was tricked into killing his priestess. After performing her first kill, Dahak then proceeded in planting his seed within her. Gabrielle became nine months pregnant by the next week, as well as gave birth to a baby girl, whom she named Hope, believing that because the baby was half-her, she was not necessarily evil, though Xena was skeptical and tried convincing her repeatedly to kill the newborn. Infancy Hope grew rapidly and on the night of her birth she made her first kill. Xena, fearing that the child is just a tool for Dahak, attempts to kill her against Gabrielle's wishes. Gabrielle then goes on the run from Xena with the help of Dahak's banshees. Xena attempts to track them down and Gabrielle fakes a story of Hope trying to strangle her and she had to throw her off of a cliff. In truth, Gabrielle sent her daughter up a river in a basket, beginning to lie -- which started the rift between Xena and Gabrielle. Childhood and Meeting Callisto Hope, within a few months, grows up to look like a 10 year child, now fully working with her father. Hope then proceeds in releasing the now goddess, Callisto from the lava pit that Xena trapped her in, in order to help her get rid of Xena. Hope disguises herself as an innocent child who was attacked by Callisto, while her mother and Xena are visiting the Amazons/Centaurs. Hope then initiates her plan where she and Callisto kill Xena's son, Solan. Afterwards, Gabrielle realizes that the child is Hope and comes to terms with her true nature and poisons her, killing her own daughter. Meeting Hercules Hope is resurrected from the ashes of her funeral pyre by Dahak. While regenerating, "The Daughter of Darkness", releases Callisto from the cavern Xena trapped her in, and gives her the task of travelling back in time and killing Hercules' mother before he's born. Thanks to the heroics of Iolaus - and surprisingly, Ares - their plot is stopped. "Hatching" and Presumed Death With the help of the cult of Dahak, Callisto, as well as Dahak's new pawn, Ares, Hope prepares to finish regenerating and hatch from her life-size cocoon. Despite the constant opposition from her mother and Xena, as well as even later Callisto, the cult feeds Hope the blood of the chosen sacrifice and she resurfaces, now fully grown appearing identical to Gabrielle, with her demonic god-like powers now in full force. Playing Gabrielle, The Destroyer and Death Hope, now fully grown, has taken Ares as her lover promising to slaughter the rest of the Olympian Gods and leave him ruling in their place. In return, Ares provides Hope with a child who grows as rapidly as she did. In her plot, Hope pretends to be Gabrielle in order to fool Joxer into showing her where Hercules hid the Hinds-Blood Dagger in his last battle with Callisto, not knowing it was already taken by Xena beforehand. Hope then tries to convince her mother to defect to her side and "be the mother she never could have been", though Gabrielle of course dismisses the offer. Hope then attempts to have Dahak rise from his flames. Of course Xena tries to kill her knowing that if she does, The Fates will immediately cut her life thread. In an attempt to stop Xena from killing Hope, Gabrielle grabs Hope and they both fall into Dahak's pit, stopping his revival and apparently killing them both. Xena and Joxer eventually discover that Ares rescued them both. Hope then gave birth to her son, a fearsome creature she calls, "The Destroyer." Hope travels to Gabrielle's hometown, Potidaea, and pretends to be her, fooling her maternal grandparents into believing Xena abuses and torments Gabrielle. Xena eventually finds the real Gabrielle and together they go up against Hope and her monster of a son. Fooled into thinking that Hope is Gabrielle, The Destroyer stabs Hope with his claw after being stabbed by Xena, mother and son then die in each others' arms. Hope doesn't appear again until the episode "Motherhood", though it's the Furies appearing as Hope in order to convince Gabrielle to kill Xena's daughter, Eve. Powers and Abilities Although Hope was a Demi-God she was quite powerful; she has powers like telekinesis, fireballs in the episode (Armageddon) (she freed Callisto with them), the ability to resurrect herself after death (Armageddon), travel through time like the other gods (Armageddon) and some kind of a refreshment power (Armageddon) similar to when Callisto was defeated by Ares, but when she used this ability, Callisto was good as new. Trivia *Renee O'Connor stated that she enjoyed playing Hope, as she had such a different dimension from Gabrielle. *Although no connection to Pandora was intended, the dichotomy of Hope being utterly evil but named after a good quality parallels the hope in Pandora's box. Some ancient texts suggest that hope was the worst of all evils in the box, rather than the only good one. Gallery Gabrielle Baby Hope.jpg|Gabrielle with Hope, only a few hours old (XWP: "Gabrielle's Hope") Hope Basket.jpg|Hope is saved by her mother, unbeknown to Xena (XWP: "Gabrielle's Hope") Fayla.jpg|Hope takes the alias of "Fayla", fooling Gabrielle and Xena (XWP: "Maternal Instincts") Hope Armageddon.jpg|Hope releases Callisto, before preparing to cocoon herself (HTLJ: "Armageddon Now") Hope Prepare.jpg|Hope sends Callisto back in time to kill Alcmene and prevent Hercules from being born (HTLJ: "Armageddon Now") Hope Cacooned Callisto.jpg|Callisto protects a cocooned Hope (XWP: "Sacrifice I") Seraphin releases Hope.jpg|Seraphin releases Hope from the cocoon and allows her to "hatch" (XWP: "Sacrifice I") Hope hatches.jpg|Hope hatches from the cocoon (XWP: "Sacrifice I") Hope changes Gab.jpg|Callisto gives Hope a new image - Her mother (XWP: "Sacrifice II") File:Hope_Xena.jpg|An adult Hope, as played by Renee O'Connor in "Sacrifice II" Ares Hope Kiss.jpg|Hope and Ares conceive The Destroyers (XWP: "Sacrifice II") Hope Hinds.jpg|Hope searches for the Hind's Blood Dagger (XWP: "Sacrifice II") Hope Ares Xena.jpg|Ares protects Hope from Xena (XWP: "Sacrifice II") Hope and Gab fall.jpg|Hope and Gabrielle fall into the lava pit (XWP: "Sacrifice II") Hope plays Gabrielle.jpg|Hope takes the identity of her mother (XWP: "A Family Affair") hope kill lilla.jpg|Hope tries to kill Lilla (XWP: "A Family Affair") Hope Destroyer.jpg|Hope with the last surviving Destroyer (XWP: "A Family Affair") Hope killed.jpg|Hope is accidentally killed by The Destroyer (XWP: "A Family Affair") Hope Furies.jpg|The Furies appear in the form of Hope (XWP: "Motherhood") Appearances Mentions #"The Bitter Suite" #"Forget Me Not" (Mentioned, archive footage) #"Paradise Found" #"The Abyss" #"Soul Possession" (Mentioned, archive footage) See Also *Dahak Category:Characters Category:Mortals Category:Immortals Category:Half-demons Category:Half-gods Category:Villains Category:Mothers Category:Hope images Category:Deceased Characters Category:Female